ABx wrote:A lot of the stuff I get, even from good sources, is wrapped in plastic.

Same here. Even if it's not in plastic, sometimes (especially if it just spent a month in a box) if I drink the tea within a day of receiving it, the cakes have a weird smell, and the brew itself has a very "postal" taste to it. But after a day of sitting out ("out" meaning in the pumidor), everything's great.

ABx wrote:A lot of the stuff I get, even from good sources, is wrapped in plastic.

Same here. Even if it's not in plastic, sometimes (especially if it just spent a month in a box) if I drink the tea within a day of receiving it, the cakes have a weird smell, and the brew itself has a very "postal" taste to it. But after a day of sitting out ("out" meaning in the pumidor), everything's great.

If only we could turn a regular $10 mengku cake into a Lao Ban Zhang just by storing them together.

heavydoom wrote:i live in toronto where a large chinese community is to be found and hence we have a lot of stores that cater to the chinese community. some of them are chinese supermarkets and chinese herbal/pharmacy store.

Which of Toronto's Chinatowns have you found the pu in? Are you looking in the Dundas/Spadina one, or East Chinatown at Broadview and Gerrard? I do make it to Toronto occasionally, so if you have any tips for good places to buy tea (pu or otherwise), I would love to hear!

i have not gone to the dundas/spadina grocery stores yet.

the menghai one and the plastic wrapped cooked pu were found in the gerrard/broadview area.

the golden sail cooked pu was found up here in scarberia. vic park/mcnicoll area.

when you do make it here in tdot, give me pm and we can meet for a pu session and i can show you around the various tea hot spots here. i know two places for sure you will love. make sure to bring your credit card or cash though.

ABx wrote:Did you catch the article in The Art of Tea magazine? Apparently the oolong farmers started a rumor that puerh is dangerous, so they sent a bunch to a lab for testing.

No, I didn't read it. Do you know the results?

@salsero: thanks.

While there were some that have potential risks on poorly stored cakes, none of the molds made it into the brew. The age of the tea made no difference, it was about how they were stored. Some bacteria (in general) did, but it was only tested with water at 80C. Boiling water would probably kill most of the rest.

When it comes to the dry cakes, I think you have to keep in mind how relatively little there is and the fact that it would probably be pretty well clung to the cake.

Personally I tend to think that if there were a problem that it would have been discovered in the past 2000 years. It doesn't take much of a pattern for people to pick up on it, especially in modern times.

Anyway, the "white frost" is indeed harmless and some consider it desirable as it theoretically protects the leaves. It can be found on cakes stored in just about any conditions. It's the ones that are deceptively "speed aged" by spraying water on them that you'd want to watch out for, if anything.

ABx wrote:Did you catch the article in The Art of Tea magazine? Apparently the oolong farmers started a rumor that puerh is dangerous, so they sent a bunch to a lab for testing.

No, I didn't read it. Do you know the results?

@salsero: thanks.

While there were some that have potential risks on poorly stored cakes, none of the molds made it into the brew. The age of the tea made no difference, it was about how they were stored. Some bacteria (in general) did, but it was only tested with water at 80C. Boiling water would probably kill most of the rest.

When it comes to the dry cakes, I think you have to keep in mind how relatively little there is and the fact that it would probably be pretty well clung to the cake.

Personally I tend to think that if there were a problem that it would have been discovered in the past 2000 years. It doesn't take much of a pattern for people to pick up on it, especially in modern times.

Anyway, the "white frost" is indeed harmless and some consider it desirable as it theoretically protects the leaves. It can be found on cakes stored in just about any conditions. It's the ones that are deceptively "speed aged" by spraying water on them that you'd want to watch out for, if anything.

I concure ABx. In fact, the Art of Tea Mag provided a detailed study of the pathagens of Pu-erh. For the most part, aged pu-erh was benign of harmful microbes. Indeed, white frost is not an issue when it comes to pu-erh. It is yellow mold of which people should be mindful of.

heavydoom wrote:i have not gone to the dundas/spadina grocery stores yet.

the menghai one and the plastic wrapped cooked pu were found in the gerrard/broadview area.

the golden sail cooked pu was found up here in scarberia. vic park/mcnicoll area.

when you do make it here in tdot, give me pm and we can meet for a pu session and i can show you around the various tea hot spots here. i know two places for sure you will love. make sure to bring your credit card or cash though.

Thank you, heavydoom! I will definitely do that.

I used to work close to the Dundas/Spadina Chinatown, so it's the one I know (or knew) best. When I went to live in the UK for a few years, it was Chinese food that I was most homesick for ... e.g. Spadina Garden's orange beef, loaded with red chilies!!

ABx wrote:While there were some that have potential risks on poorly stored cakes, none of the molds made it into the brew. The age of the tea made no difference, it was about how they were stored. Some bacteria (in general) did, but it was only tested with water at 80C. Boiling water would probably kill most of the rest.

When it comes to the dry cakes, I think you have to keep in mind how relatively little there is and the fact that it would probably be pretty well clung to the cake.

Personally I tend to think that if there were a problem that it would have been discovered in the past 2000 years. It doesn't take much of a pattern for people to pick up on it, especially in modern times.

Anyway, the "white frost" is indeed harmless and some consider it desirable as it theoretically protects the leaves. It can be found on cakes stored in just about any conditions. It's the ones that are deceptively "speed aged" by spraying water on them that you'd want to watch out for, if anything.

Thanks for the information. It seems the article refered to sheng pu er or pu er in general. The articles i have are all about shu pu er.

This old thread on Puerh from Chinese grocers has me thinking. Are there any Chinese grocers in Chinatown in Flushing, Queens, NY where you can find Puerh? There is a huge Chinese community there and I don't think they all buy their tea online. There is a Chinese grocer in Hempstead, NY where you can buy relatively recent Shu Puerh from Xiaguan and CNNP. I have bought them before. Mostly I bought a couple the last time I was there because I have trouble passing up an inexpensive Puerh cake.